Published: November 19, 2006

Team Gator snaps jaws at insurgent operations

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by Lance Cpl Bryan Eberly

Team Gator swam up-river to chomp down on improvised explosive devices and insurgent activities Nov. 9.

Three amphibious assault vehicles with B Company, 2nd Assault Amphibian Battalion stack up Nov. 9 before leaving for their mission from Camp Fallujah. Marines from B Company send out platoons every day and every night to keep common travel routes for convoys safe from improvised explosive devices. (photo by Lance Cpl. Bryan Eberly)

Marines from B Company, 2nd Assault Amphibian Battalion conducted a patrol on the main roads outside Camp Fallujah to look for anything that may harm Coalition Forces using the roads.

"We're the safest, biggest and fiercest vehicles in the Corps," said Cpl. Joseph W. Bogard, a 21-year-old crew chief from Cincinnati. "So we're the forefront."

Every day and every night an AAV platoon can spend hours driving up and down main convoy routes in search of anything suspicious that could harm Coalition Forces using these roads.

"We make sure the roads are clear by not only searching, but showing off our force also, which usually deters insurgents," said Staff Sgt. Joshua C. Meyer, a 26-year-old section chief from Murrieta, Calif. "If we see someone burying an IED, for example, we'll fire upon them."

The platoon found two suspicious vehicles during the patrol.

"The first vehicle matched a description of one we were on the lookout for," Meyer said. "The second vehicle looked like it was covered in bullet holes."

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